‘Strange’ night in Nebraska leaves Huskers and fans wanting much more

Lisa Kintz and her family arrived at Memorial Stadium on Saturday in a state of giddiness. So eager to witness the first game of the Scott Frost era — “a Nebraska homeboy,” she called him — they left their home in Ogallala, Neb., at 8 a.m., 10 hours before kickoff.

Upon driving 275 miles and crossing time zones from Mountain to Central, they reached their seats above the 25-yard line. It was overcast and humid but nothing all that worrisome.

“We’ve sat through rain, through sleet, through snow and in 100-degree weather,” Kintz said. “We had our ponchos. We were ready.”

What transpired over the next three-plus hours was almost unprecedented in the 129-year history of Nebraska football. The only play Kintz and 90,000 of her closest friends witnessed was an Akron kickoff that went for a touchback.

As freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez jogged onto the field at 7:15 p.m., Nebraska official Butch Hug waved his arms, signaling the presence of lightning.

“Every time we saw lightning, the crowd would make a noise,” Kintz said.

Long story short, Nebraska is still 0-0. The lightning never left, causing just the third cancellation in program history.

Lisa Kintz photo

Kayla Junge, left, and mother Lisa Kintz take a selfie Saturday at the Nebraska-Akron game in Lincoln, Neb. The game was canceled because of lightning.

Kayla Junge, left, and mother Lisa Kintz take a selfie Saturday at the Nebraska-Akron game in Lincoln, Neb. The game was canceled because of lightning. (Lisa Kintz photo)

“Everybody was disappointed,” Frost said Tuesday. “The kids wanted to play. They put in so much work over the last nine months to get ready for that night. It was strange to have the opening kickoff and then get the rug pulled from under you.

“I was proud of the kids for how they handled it. They were in the locker room saying we should move the game to our indoor facility. That would have been epic.”

The Omaha World-Herald reported that Nebraska and Big Ten officials wanted to resume play at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. They even looked into housing Akron players in campus dorms overnight.

But Akron declined, citing a 2 a.m. charter flight home. The Zips might forfeit some of the $1.17 million they were set to receive from Nebraska.

Akron could be out some money; Nebraska could be outta luck.

Teams generally need six wins to make a bowl game, and a postseason berth means extra practice time, which Frost would crave in his first full offseason.

Frost said he might try to use his team’s Oct. 27 open date to get a 12th game — or find an opponent to visit Lincoln on the weekend of the Big Ten title game, assuming the Cornhuskers aren’t in it.

“If they give us an option to fill that game in somewhere,” Frost said, “we’re going to take it.”

Frost used some dark humor at the start of Tuesday’s Big Ten teleconference, saying he did not need to open with a statement: “Let’s go straight to questions. I don’t have much to talk about.”

A handful of FBS teams already have played twice. Nebraska will have first-game jitters when it takes the field at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Colorado, which hammered Colorado State 45-13. The forecast from weather.com: “Showers in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon.”

“We’ll make the best of it,” Frost said. “There are probably some little advantages. They haven’t seen us on tape and don’t know as much about our personnel. But coaches will say the biggest improvement of the year comes between Game 1 and Game 2. They will have the benefit of that and we won’t.”

Also not benefiting from the change: Lisa Kintz.

Lisa Kintz photo

The “Husker room” in the home of Lisa Kintz, who lives in Ogallala, Neb.

The “Husker room” in the home of Lisa Kintz, who lives in Ogallala, Neb. (Lisa Kintz photo)

She is a tremendously devoted fan, with a “Husker room” in her home stuffed with helmet, hats, mugs, signs, lamps, balls, caps and Wheaties boxes. She doesn’t have season tickets, relying on the kindness of friends who do. She normally goes to an early-season game to celebrate her Sept. 7 birthday.

“I get goose bumps every time I’m there,” she said of Memorial Stadium.

She still had fun Saturday night, eating Valentino’s pizza (“the best in the state”) and singing in the rain. The entire stadium rocked to “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” and turned their phones into flashlights while the PA played Toto’s “Africa.”